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C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

National Geographic Sees Purple

I was wondering if anyone had opinions on this observation by folks at National Geographic.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scie … mars-rocks

Apparently there is an unusual weathered coating being observed by Perseverance.  I disagree with their claim that it's never been observed before, but apparently this rover is seeing it everywhere, including spots on pebbles.

My immediate baseless suspicion is sublithic algae, like those found in Antarctica.  Or, maybe not so sublithic.

Has Perserverance taken a sample of one of these coatings yet?  Was this purple patina represented in recent results for organic content?

Just wondering.

CME

*Edit*

See https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-cur … re-on-mars for a brief discussion of Perserverance's SAM instrument results on carbon content of rocks, showing carbon-12 enrichment.  Is there enough data to know if there is a correlation between a skewed C12:C13 ratio vs. the atmospheric ratio and the presence of this particular purple patina?

Hmm...

Last edited by C M Edwards (2022-01-21 13:45:29)

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: National Geographic Sees Purple

The second JPL image on the referenced page shows a layered rock in that can only form with water which is another indicator of life's possibility.
The drill that was into the lake bed was the best sample of all at a depth to find the distribution of the ionic carbon difference that also is another life indicator.
On the evolutionary chain of life from single cell upwards we would see algae as the more complex organism for possible life type in that core sample.